Sermon by Uri
Brito
Overcoming Temptation
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13, "Wherefore let him who thinks
he stands take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken
you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be
able to bear it."
Let us pray, shall we?
Introduction: One of the
perils that a Christian faces from day to day is temptation. The
word "temptation" can have two main directions of
thought. Temptation can be a testing, but it also can refer to an
enticement to sin. Any enticement to sin does not come from God;
rather it originates either from the world, the flesh or the
devil.
The Bible says in James 1:14, "But every man is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."
Beloved, it is absolutely wrong to blame God for an enticement to
sin. The holy and righteous God will not entice you to sin,
because He is absolutely and infinitely holy, that is impossible.
It is not a sin to be
tempted. In fact many Bible characters were tempted to sin. But
it is a sin to yield to it. You do not have to sin when
temptations come; though a part of living is being tempted,
through the power and help of God we can say, "No" to
every enticement to sin that comes your way.
Enticement to sin actually comes from three main areas:
1. It comes from Satan. He is referred to as
"the Tempter" in Matt. 4:3 and in I Thess. 3:5. He can
even masquerade himself as an angel of light (2 Cor.11:14).
2. It comes from a love of
the world. That is what the Apostle John referred to in 1 Jn.
2:16 as, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life." Three of the main sins that come from
the world system are the desire for sensuality, covetousness, and
pride. Dr. Ravi Zacharias writes in his book ; Deliver Us From
Evil: “ The constant bombardment of images shapes the
perception of a whole generation and results in altered beliefs
and lifestyles that make even the aberrant, seem normal.”
Have the images of this world so entered your mind that you see
nothing wrong with them?
3. It comes from man himself.
When a person is saved, they possess two natures. One is a holy
or new nature that comes from God and the other is a sinful
nature that is separated from God and enslaved to moral evil.
James 1:14,15 says, "But every man is tempted, when he is
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death.
Lust conceived in the heart brings forth sin, and sin in turn
brings forth death. Death here has the basic idea of separation.
And by the way that’s is exactly what the Apostle Paul talks
about in Ephesians 2:1 when he says: “ And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin”. So, we are
dealing here with separation, not annihilation. Therefore, ladies
and gentleman while we are dead in our trespasses and sin we can
still respond to the gospel in a positive way or in a negative
way. We can either reject Jesus Christ or accept His gift of
salvation. WE can either refuse to go against God or we can be
for God and with God beloved nothing can separate us from His
love. Amen. The continual practice of sin leads to eternal death
or separation from God, but never annihilation.
The Bible says that, "He that is born of God cannot commit
(or practice) sin (1 Jn. 3:9). Why? The holy seed of God, the new
nature, through which the Holy Spirit operates, is inside of the
believer. I have no problem with people who are seeking (by the
grace of God to overcome sin) I do have a problem with people who
spend their lives defending their sins.
God may send trying
circumstances to prove our loyalty or to draw a person back to
Himself whom has strayed. Israel in the wilderness is an example
of that truth. The Bible says in Ex. 15 that the Lord proved them
or tested them. Deut. 8:16 tells us that the Lord brings about
trying circumstances to humble us, to test us, and cause us to do
what is right in the end. Job declared in Job. 23:10, "When
He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." This is the
same Job that said in Job 13:15: “ Though He slay me, yet
will I trust in Him.” Beloved, God often orders our
circumstances to reveal our love for Him, to make us stronger to
resist sin, and to do us good in the end.
God allowed Satan to test Job, to reveal the true integrity of
Job. Job would not listen to the devil or do his bidding. Jesus
Himself was tempted in the wilderness testing. He was tempted to
misuse His supernatural powers and to worship Satan. Did He fall
to the temptations? No, instead Jesus proved that He could not
sin in the wilderness temptation. The devil could not deceive and
trick Jesus into sinning.
From 1 Cor.10:13 lets consider several things:
I. The Reality of Temptation
II. The Regulation of Temptation
III.The Release From Temptation
I. The Reality of Temptation
See the phrase, "Common to man." I want to make it very
clear that temptation is real. It is not the product of human
imagination. Temptations are typical human experiences. Never
think that you are the only one that faces temptations in life.
The Bible says it is common to all people. Oswald Chambers once
wrote: “ Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact,
it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of
thinking that you are tempted as no one else—what you go
through is the common inheritance of the human race, not
something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save
us from temptations—He sustains us in the midst of
them.” The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 2:18: “
For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted He is able to
succor ( help) them that are tempted. Adam and Eve were tempted
in the Garden of Eden. King David was tempted to have Uriah
killed, due to his sinful desire for Bathsheba. Job was tempted
to curse God and die. If you recall that is what His wife urged
him to do, after he broke out in boils all over his body. On and
on the list could go. I am convinced the experiences of the
characters of the Bible prove that temptation in the sense of an
enticement to sin is a very real thing.
Let Us See The Many Avenues
the Devil Can Use
1. Desire to steal. –
Personal example: Your sin will find you out. Hey, listen to me;
you think you’re gonna get away with it? Well, the One that
holds your breath in His hands. The One that has the whole world
in His hands knows it. And I would be very careful with the
things you take. God sees you.
2. Desire for substitutes for
God. It involves a desire to worship the creature more than the
Creator. We are told to flee or run from idolatry. Talk about I
John 5:21: “ Little children, keep yourselves from
idols.” Idolatry is anything that occupies the place due to
God. What are you replacing God with?
3. Desire for slander.
Slander is one of the worst sins people can ever commit. It has a
destructive force worse than a powerful tornado. O, that profound
desire to exalt yourself just a little higher than your neighbor
by hurting his reputation using malicious utterance. Beloved,
next time when tempted to slander be reminded of the words of the
Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:29: “ Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good
to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the
hearers.”
4. Desire to seek unfamiliar
spirits. That is a temptation that should always be resisted. It
will ruin and wreck a person’s life. Do not seek that which
can bring you destruction. Brazil is a country of a 163 million
people. This enormous nation has been heavily influenced by the
African culture, which has brought satanic rituals and obviously
changed our culture. Ladies and gentleman, I have seen and
witnessed at first hand the power of Satan in my country. My
father being a minister of the gospel was many times called to
cast away demons and if you ever wander how the experience is,
let me assure you that you would be so shocked and terrified that
your life would never be the same. Let me tell you the number one
method the devil has used to bring people to seek those
unfamiliar spirits and that is through music. Through music he
destroys lives; through music he penetrates evil messages into
the minds of the people; through music he brings people into the
kingdom of darkness. Be careful to what you’re listening to;
make sure you are listening to music that would glorify the name
of God. I have been there, the devil almost got a hold of me, but
praise God, Jesus found me first.
The Reality of Temptation
II. The Regulating of
Temptation
"God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able"(I
Cor.10:13c).
Temptations and trials come
our way but the Lord has a way of regulating them, so they will
not be more than we are able to bear through His divine
assistance. We serve a sovereign, all-powerful God who is still
in control. At times we look around us and wonder if He is, but I
want to assure you, in spite of the devil and all of the demons
of hell, He is still in control. Christ is sovereign over the
affairs of nations and peoples. God will not allow a temptation
to come your way that is more powerful than your ability through
Him to resist; let me repeat that. Amen!
Note: The Lord will not let us go through things until we are
able to handle them. When the soldiers came to take Jesus in the
garden, the disciples fled, and were not arrested. Why? They were
not ready to participate in what Jesus was about to go through.
When they were finally ready, they all died maryter’s deaths
except John, who died on the Isle of Patmos in exile. They went
through persecution, imprisionment, and countless hardships when
they were finally deemed ready by the Lord to endure them. No
believer can rightly claim if he sins, that the devil made him do
it. Satan cannot make you sin. A person chooses to sin. People
sin because they willingly sin. When a person sins, he or she
chooses to sin. Did I make that clear? How comforting it is to
know that He will never allow more testing in our lives than we
are able to bear. Remember, He has authority over the devil.
The Reality of Temptation
The Regulating of Temptation
III The Release From Temptation
"But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13c).
God ensures that there is
always a way out of every temptation that we may encounter in our
earthly life. II peter 2:9 says: “ The Lord knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptation.” Oh, what a blessed
promise!
Illustration:
When people fall prey to wrongdoing, they often try to excuse it.
A three year old tried to give an explanation for being in the
kitchen, on top of a chair, eating cookies. His explanation was,
"I just climbed up to smell them, and my tooth got caught in
them." How do you like that explanation? Stop trying to make
excuse for your sins.
Note: Keep in mind, we have the promise of God that there is
ALWAYS a way to escape that we might be able to bear whatever it
is we are tempted to do, that is against the will of God.
What are God’s ways of
escape? How do we escape and come out on top when we are tempted?
A. Removal
Getting whatever is tempting you out of the way. It’s that
ungodly and filthy music. It’s that TV program. Beloved,
wake up! It is time to remove these things from our lives that we
may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Aren’t you tired of taking a step back instead of taking a
step forward for the Lord?
B. Running
Joseph in Potiphar’s House. Wife tried to force him to have
sexual relations with her. Joseph ran and left her holding part
of his clothes as he ran. He did what the Bible says in 1
Cor.6:18 to do, "Flee fornication."
C. Relying
The Bible says, "Having done all to stand, stand."
"Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might."
With every promise of God there is enabling. God will strengthen
us to overcome temptation to sin, if we will only rest in His
divine power and depend on Him moment by moment.
Moment by moment
Never a trial that He is not there,
Never a burden that He doth not bear,
Never a sorrow that He doth not share, Moment by moment
I’m under His care.
Conclusion:
Beloved, temptation is a reality. We are to benefit from every
temptation that comes our way. Even an enticement to sin from the
world, the flesh, or the devil, makes us stronger as a Christian,
when it is faced and resisted. Every time our faith in God is
exercised it becomes stronger. Burdens, troubles, pressures of
any kind can bring a blessing. When we trust in Him moment by
moment and when we give our lives to Him, not partially, but
completely to the One Who always provides a way to escape.
How are you responding to your temptations? How you do, will
determine the degree of your spiritual success and victory. Let
us pray shall we?